‘Firefly’ Rewind – Episode 5: ‘Safe’

Once again, we’re spending Tuesdays this summer going back through Joss Whedon’s sci-fi/Western mash-up “Firefly.” A review of episode five, “Safe,” coming up just as soon as I tip you off to my cunningly-concealed herd of cows…

The “Firefly” pilot set up Mal and Simon as spiritual opposites: the outlaw vs. the city slicker, the fighter vs. the healer, the cynical wisecracker vs. the earnest straight man, etc. But what we learn in “Safe” is that, for all their surface differences, they share perhaps the most important thing in common: they have lost everything in the universe they care about except the people on that ship.

“Safe” is a fine example of the value of showing over telling. In both “Serenity” and “The Train Job,” there was a lot of talk about all Simon had sacrificed to save River from The Academy, but the flashbacks of “Safe” allow us to see it for ourselves. Young Simon(*) had an adoring sister/playmate, a doting mother and father, all of his needs attended to and a place in society’s elite. Now he’s a fugitive, stuck on a ship full of dirty pirates who don’t much like him, traveling to one backwards, superstitious, dangerous world after another, and all for what? To save the sister who’s just barely sane enough to recognize how crazy and “broken” she’s become.

(*) Played in the first flashback by, of all people, young Zac Efron, doing a fine impression of Sean Maher.

But as frustrated and miserable as Simon is on Serenity, or during his kidnapping misadventure, you also see that he has no regrets – that his love for River, even this version of River, is so strong that he would do it all over again.

Yet at the same time, that love for his sister is all he has left, so when it becomes clear that she’s going to be burned at the stake as a witch (and for knowing a little too much about how the community’s current leader came to be in charge), he gets up on the platform with her. At first it’s an attempt to save her, but when it becomes clear that he can’t, he stays. He’s her big brother, and he can’t let her die alone like that, and he also has nothing worth living for if she’s gone. It’s a really powerful moment, and well-played by Sean Maher.

In the end, though, Mal comes back in the nick of time to save the day, and he explains in simple, unsentimental language why he did it: “You’re on my crew.” He and Mal may not like each other, Jayne may be a shaved ape who steals his stuff when it looks like he’s not coming back alive, River may be a few sandwiches shy of a picnic and life may always be dangerous, but to the surprise of both Mal and Simon, he really is part of the crew now, which makes Serenity his home, and the rest of the crew his family. It’s nothing like the home and family he gave up for River’s sake, but it’s a start.

Some other thoughts on “Safe”:

River and Simon wind up in the hands of their kidnappers longer than expected because of the shooting of Shepherd Book, which reveals two interesting character points. First is that Mal’s hatred of the Alliance is so great that he would risk a man’s life rather than take him to an Alliance facility for help. Second is that whatever Book was in life before he became a man of the cloth, it was a position that still holds a lot of sway with the Alliance.

Ron Glass, by the way, is very good as a clearly frightened Book responds to Zoe’s line about Simon not needing to hurry for such a small injury by saying, “He could… hurry a little.”

It speaks well of Simon that even while kidnapped, he recognizes the need for his services in the little mountain community and quickly gets to work in the makeshift hospital.

Like Kaylee’s “Captain Tightpants” line, Zoe’s “Big damn heroes, sir” became one of the series’ catchphrases that lived on among the fans long after the cancellation.

We’re getting to the point where the non-airing of “Serenity” was less of a big deal, but Kaylee does briefly reference how Book held her hand after she was shot, which Fox viewers of course had no idea about.

Mrs. Tam is played by Isabella Hoffman, the second alum of the Judd Hirsch sitcom to have a notable role on a Whedon show. (Harry Groener, of course, played Mayor Wilkins on “Buffy.”) I’m assuming this is a coincidence, but if Jere Burns gets cast on Joss’s next show, look out.

This is also two episodes in a row where Kaylee’s feelings are badly hurt by a man she admires, this time with Simon both insulting the plate she thought would be a gift for him (albeit with him ignorant to that fact) and then Serenity itself. It’s interesting to see the push-pull of the Kaylee/Simon relationship. Every Unresolved Sexual Tension scenario in TV needs some kind of artifical obstacle, and here it’s the huge difference in class – and given the inner vs. outer planets society that the show has established, it’s more plausible than a lot of excuses on other shows.

Jayne pretending to read aloud from Simon’s diary (“Today I was pompous and my sister was crazy”) is one of Adam Baldwin’s funnier moments so far on the series.

The show wasn’t around long enough to see if Whedon was going to take it in a more serialized direction, but it’s nice to see smaller bits of ongoing storytelling, like the cows from the end of “Shindig” being a key part of the plot here.

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The “big damn heroes” lines are probably my favorite in the series, and Mal and Zoe are clearly enjoying themselves during the rescue in spite of whatever reservations they had about bringing River and Simon back onto the ship. It’s a truly fun scene.

In the DVD commentaries for “Leverage”, the writers and producers talk about ways which they emphasize the growing family relationship between the team, and one way is through having them eat together. That “Safe” ends with the crew eating together again around a candlelit table tends to emphasize that same feeling. It’s a pretty messed up family in many respects, but as you point out, each other is all they have.

For whatever reason, I didn’t appreciate the character of Simon as much as some of the others when this series first aired. But he’s grown on me over time, and I’m seeing him in a new light, particularly the scene where he joins his sister on the platform. It’s a lovely moment.

By: WxSquid

07.06.2010 @ 12:36 PM

What I missed with the cancellation of the show is the learning of the back story of Book. As alluded to here and elsewhere, he has a story that was waiting to come out.

By: Anonymous

07.06.2010 @ 2:35 PM

I had always complained about that too, but my cousin (who is a far more avid follower of Whedon than myself) has maintained that Joss likely would not have explained Book’s back story. And after watching Buffy I can somewhat agree with that.

Author of the comicbook (brother of Joss and writer for Dollhouse episodes The Attic and Epitaph 1) Zack Whedon: [www.comicbookresources.com]

By: jenfullmoon

07.06.2010 @ 5:19 PM

I am convinced that the movie was secretly Book’s backstory in disguise. I will say no more, but if you know what I mean, it’s plausible.

By: Chrissy

07.06.2010 @ 6:10 PM

I agree with jenfullmoon – at least, I think that’s true in the broad strokes. I actually thought that was spelled out at some point, but I could be wrong.

By: Robin

07.06.2010 @ 8:10 PM

@Tausif Khan: Thank you for those links. I hadn’t heard about the planned comic, and I had to restrain myself from doing a happy dance at my desk.

By: Tausif Khan

07.11.2010 @ 9:46 PM

sorry Jed aand Maurissa wrote the attic. Zack is still great. Mixing up Whedons is wrong.

By: velocityknown

07.06.2010 @ 12:38 PM

I never realized that was Zac Efron haha.

One of the things that interested always interested me about this episode was Sheppard Book’s wonderful treatment at the hands of the Alliance. From what’s been said in interviews, the backstory of Sheppard Book is something Wheddon always looked forward to exploring and they definitely open it more as the series goes and it’s one of those mysteries that we’re just kind of forced to deal with, even we’re including “Serenity” in the discussion.

The ending of this episode is one of my favorites simply because I like the bad ass moments:

Patron: This girl is a witch!
Mal: Yeah but she’s our witch (loads and aims gun)
so cut her the hell down.

By: belinda

07.06.2010 @ 9:37 PM

I’ve watched Firefly many, many times, but I never realized – not once – that young Simon was Zac Efron either. Wow.

By: seanl

07.06.2010 @ 12:46 PM

“See, morbid and creepifying, I got no problem with. Long as she does it quiet-like” was another great delivery by Fillion.

I too was deeply intrigued by the story of Book while watching, and though it was disappointing that Serenity the movie didn’t ostensibly illuminate anything, I did like that the story of the operative could be taken as indirectly shedding some light on the matter.

By: AJ

07.06.2010 @ 1:59 PM

I’ve always agreed with that take on Book’s back-storying, sort of an indrect reveal. That’s all I’ll say until we get to the actual movie to try to stay within the spoiler guidelines.

I always liked this episode, it was around here that Firefly started to feel like it founds its stride. Looking forward to next week’s review because the Saffron character (and obviously Hendricks) are fantastic.

By: sepinwall

07.06.2010 @ 1:28 PM

Just a reminder, as always, to be careful about discussing future episodes and the movie, for the sake of anyone watching the series for the first time with us this summer. Thus far, all the comments have been on the right side of the line; I just wanted to mention it before someone crosses that line.

By: Anonymous

07.06.2010 @ 8:35 PM

Can we discuss the fact that next episode has Christina Hendricks, sans clothes? Because that’s a major strength of the show, if you ask me.

By: Sean

07.06.2010 @ 9:28 PM

And can I also mention that, personally, it blows my mind that a FOX TV network executive could sit down and watch the upcoming three episode stretch consisting of “Out of Gas,” “Ariel” and “War Stories” (episodes 8, 9 & 10), then decide that this show wasn’t worth keeping around???

All three episodes were brilliant in the own unique way.

Huh? What? Couldn’t even give the show one full season? Damn you FOX!

Makes absolutely no sense. No sense whatsoever.

By: Jess D

07.06.2010 @ 2:15 PM

I barely remembered this episode, but the scene of River dancing has always stayed with me. Once Simon and River got forced to “take a walk” my brain went, “Oh! This is the episode with the dancing scene.” It is so wonderful to see River just completely joyful and carefree in that moment. And I love the look on Simon’s face as he watches her. That scene and the scene where she’s fairly lucid and confesses to him that she knows what he gave up for her are my favorites from this episode. They are great moments that give us a true taste of the depth of feeling between them.

I also really love the “morbid and creepifying” and “big damn heroes” lines.

Unfortunately this episode also introduces the mystery of Sheppard Book’s past. I was so interested in this mystery, and it is the lingering thread that bothers me the most with the series. So seeing it introduced here was rather bittersweet.

By: astrolad

07.06.2010 @ 3:18 PM

For me, the series is full of little moments. Simon looking so happy as River dances, River’s proud look when Simon is doctoring, Kaylee stroking Serenity after a scrape, etc. The list goes on and on.

All those little moments do a wonderful job of filling in the characters. It’s something that few other series do.

By: Anonymous

07.06.2010 @ 4:19 PM

I find this the most difficult episode of the series to re-watch. There’s certainly a lot of good character stuff, but the whole witch thing was so clumsily handled it makes me cringe. It’s not that I don’t buy the idea of an isolated fundamentalist cult that would believe in witches in the universe that Whedon’s set up. It’s just that anyone who has devoted more than a few seconds thought to the subject (or has read THE CRUCIBLE) knows that no one accuses someone of being a witch just because they’re a little off or because they’re suspected of having supernatural powers – it’s always because the accuser wants something that the accused has. I know it would have taken a 2-part episode to develop that kind of motivation fully, and they just didn’t have that luxury, but I still can’t excuse the lazy, lame-ass writing in all the witch hysteria scenes.

By: Mark M

07.07.2010 @ 12:18 PM

I’ve always assumed that the woman in the hospital originally called River out as a witch because of her religious devotion, coupled with her not being very educated. After that, the townsfolk would’ve dismissed the allegations, except that the town leader, as you put it, wanted something from her. Specifically, he wanted her to stop going on about how he killed his predecessor.

By: Kristen

09.13.2010 @ 4:49 PM

That’s a big generalization that assumes anyone who has ever accused someone of being a witch in human history must have the exact same motivation. I think it’s entirely possible (and easy) to believe that people with limited education would fear that which is different. Not that we would know anything about that in our current culture in the United States.

By: gms212

07.06.2010 @ 5:30 PM

Sean Maher reminds me of Crispin Glover at various points throughout the series, but Simon’s plea to the angry mob to spare his sister just screams George McFly to me. The hand gestures, the spittle, even down to the way his hair looks.

By: Missy

07.06.2010 @ 5:39 PM

Simon Being Simon and insulting the Prairie Plate Kaylee thought was Pretty…..and gift worthy…I just think of that moment when she looks back at the plate and puts it down……Jewel has this look and it’s really Sad…Like she’s just realized he may never like her the way she likes him.
I Smile like Simon when I see River Dancing….She looks so Free and at peace and like the Alliance and the Academy never happened……and the moment she intrinsically knows that shit has hit the fan back at Serenity and knows what is about to happen to Simon…..that look of horror and the resulting scream……You realise befor ‘Ariel’ that the Academy screwed her royally…….and the amount of times I’ve had to hold back tears when she tells Simon she understands how much he’s lost just to save her.
2 lines stick out from that scene “Daddy will come and take us home” & “He believed her….made a face” and the giggle off that line.
Shepherd Book’s Secret was intriguing….until you realized you weren’t going to get an answer then it became irratating Lol ……September can’t come quick enough…..guessing has been doing my head in.
I Love the end of this ep most Simon doing one last solid for his Mei Mei…..and Mal & Co. swooping in and saving the Day…….because they are ‘Big Damn Heroes’.

By: shara says

07.06.2010 @ 5:39 PM

I thought this episode had a lovely combination of “big” moments as well as quieter ones. As others have mentioned, River dancing was a beautiful moment for both her and Simon. Her being joyful and free, him watching her proudly, with a hint of awe was a well-earned moment, and a nice throwback to the pilot, where Simon explained to the crew that everything, even dancing, came as natural to her as breathing, as well as to Summer Glau’s real life mad dancing skilz. I loved the Big Damn Heroes line, as well as Mal’s retorts to the townspeople – “She’s our witch” as well as “see that man hanging up there with the really big gun? I’m not saying y’all weren’t easy to find, but it was kinda out of our way and he didn’t want to be here in the first place. Man’s lookin’ to kill some folk, so really its his will you should be worried about thwarting.”

Also, that moment when Simon and River are on the platform getting ready to burn, and she smiles and reminds him of the “post-holer” thing that is “for digging holes for posts”, and smiles at the post she is strapped to. I just loved that line delivery – perfect gallows humor for the crazy girl :)

This was the episode where I started liking Simon more. And I had no idea that was Zac Efron! Damn, now I can’t honestly maintain my insistance that “I’ve never seen anything that Zac Efron was ever in”.

By: Chrissy

07.06.2010 @ 6:12 PM

I just wanted to thank Alan for saying something nice about Sean Maher. Simon is close to being my favorite character, and I always feel like the actor is underrated on this show. I know he’s not your favorite part of Firefly, Alan, but this is a great episode for him and I’m glad you noted that.

By: Susan

07.06.2010 @ 6:14 PM

Alan, no shout out for Justified’s Erica Tazel as Doralee?

By: Maureen

07.06.2010 @ 6:29 PM

I love the “big damn heroes” line, but love even more Fillion’s delivery of “ain’t we just” in response. Gets me every time I hear it.

Not knowing Book’s backstory continues to be a frustration, I so want to know what his history is.

I think this is the episode where it becomes clear what Mal will do for his crew, and how loyal he is to them, even if he doesn’t happen to like them. He is such an interesting flawed hero, with so many layers.

By: bassplyr5150

07.06.2010 @ 7:05 PM

Had a “Firefly” marathon this weekend inspired in part by this summer re-watch. Thanks so much for giving me the nudge. I felt with this ep, the series really got rolling and finally cleared the Intro Exposition hurdle.
And I still want to know the deal with Book, but I’m also kinda happy that I don’t know.

By: velocityknown

07.06.2010 @ 7:41 PM

Seeing as Simon is a big topic of discussion today, I thought I’d interject with the interesting tid bit that a former child star by the name of Neil Patrick Harris auditioned for the role of Simon.

Sigh, I wonder if he ever got to doing anything else?

By: Chip

07.06.2010 @ 9:28 PM

This ep played better for me on the re-watch than before but it’s still my least favorite. Flashbacks, Book stuff, big damn heroes is all great but I hated that village plot. How the hell did they know he was a doctor again?

Anyway I’m ahead in the series now and besides noting that the eps really reach a peak starting with Out of Gas, I did get to thinking about the Reconstruction Era metaphor. In that situation unifying was the right thing to do. We who have seen the whole series and movie know the Alliance are indeed a bunch of dicks but I still wonder what exactly the war was over, specifically. Cuz to me when you have like hundreds of planets a unifying government doesn’t seem half-bad of an idea. Or is Whedon secretly pro Confederacy???

By: Sean

07.06.2010 @ 9:43 PM

Chip: “How the hell did they know he was a doctor again?”

As I recall, a couple of the village idiots were in the trees when Serenity landed and commented that maybe something big was going down since a ship like that normally doesn’t set down in those parts.

Then, they spied on Mal and Simon from the tree line, which was very near the cow herd, and overheard their conversation where I think Mal mentioned something about Simon being a doctor (or he addressed him as “doctor”).

I guess they decide he was worth going after, especially after he and River were separated from the rest of the main group and there was also a gunfight taking place nearby as a distraction.

By: velocityknown

07.06.2010 @ 11:42 PM

I always felt like it was something about the way he dressed that people instantly knew he was a doctor, just because there’s no other way people could instantly know. Maybe it’s a realm of the Firefly universe we never got around to seeing.

As for the planet’s separatists movement, I think the issue was mostly that people didn’t want to be told what to do by an Alliance that was probably a major player in destroying “Earth that was”. I don’t think Whedon had a view either way, I just think it’s something we’ve seen every time a new society forms. And in this world it’s definitely an interesting creature to explore.

By: MadlyMild

07.07.2010 @ 4:38 AM

The move I watch (as I’ve come to think of it) the Zac Efron scene, the more I think that the child actor playing River has been dubbed with Summer Glau’s voice. Or else that kid really, really sounds like her. Am I crazy or can anyone back me up on this one?

By: Anonymous

07.07.2010 @ 6:03 AM

It’s funny, I didn’t remember this one as well as some of the others (despite remembering, obviously, the “big damn heroes” line and Jayne’s hysterical bit “reading” the doctor’s journal), but I liked it a lot upon re-watch.

The construction of the Tam family flashbacks with the ultimate resolution in this episode of “you’re on my crew” is a perfect parallel, showing that in the civilized society Mal disdains and Simon misses, family is a bond only as long as it doesn’t become too inconvenient, whereas in the uncivilized outlaw society the crew of Serenity occupy, family (or crew) is a bond not lightly broken, even if you don’t like that family.

I’ve generally assumed that the movie gave us a pretty decent answer as to who Book was in general, but I’m glad that the graphic novel is going to give us specifics, as that did seem to be the biggest, most interesting dangling plot point left for fans.

Thanks for doing these recaps, Alan… I was looking for an excuse to go back and re-watch Firefly, as despite my love of the show, I’ve probably only seen it through twice, and it’s been quite a while.

By: Ovid

07.07.2010 @ 1:36 PM

I can just echo what Alan and others have said about what’s wonderful in this ep., but rewatching it made me wonder why Mal took off so quickly. He’d supposedly already accepted Simon as crew. He needed a doctor. He knew what had happened to Simon and where to look for him. He had every reason to go get him, but didn’t. Did I miss something?

By: Missy

07.07.2010 @ 6:12 PM

Book was Dying…………no time to get Simon & River.
Mal says as much in the ep.
They save Simon & River 1st and Book dies…..they save Book and theres time to go get the Kiddies.

By: Aaron

11.06.2015 @ 6:26 AM

Spoiler alert.

Ok. I know this is years later, but I am finally watching this show for the first time and this was one of the two biggest story holes I had with this series. Sometimes the writing seemed lazy.

So you need doctor. Rather than go get the one that you just drop down on out of nowhere later on in the episode because you apparently had a tracking device or something on him. You take your chances out in space with no plan. Only to finally decide to take him to a facility that you have to know would never accept him. Oh wait he has a magic card in his pocket that gets him in. Ok now let’s go drop down on our doctor friend since we know exactly where he is.

The other giant plot hole I had was when the guy was transporting organs in his body. He would transport them then they would take them out and put his organs back in. Who transported his organs?

The writing stinks but is often saved by the characters.

By: Sue F

07.07.2010 @ 2:09 PM

I don’t see it as hatred for the Alliance that had Mal fighting the idea of taking Book but rather fear. His crew are still on the opposite side of the law-abiding part of the Alliance. But then he did – because looking after the people onboard was more important.

By: tigerstripes

07.07.2010 @ 6:03 PM

“The show wasn’t around long enough to see if Whedon was going to take it in a more serialized direction, but it’s nice to see smaller bits of ongoing storytelling, like the cows from the end of “Shindig” being a key part of the plot here.”

Okay, I have a gripe with that. The shows were originally broadcast out of order by the network, Fox. As an original watcher of same, I can testify to how confusing it was. But Joss Whedon *always* has storytelling as a priority, both within an individual episode and as a seasonal arc. A little respect, please.

Gripe #2 — this is a rewatch critique. Rather than limit what your commenters have to say, post a Spoiler Alert at the top of your critique.

By: sepinwall

07.07.2010 @ 6:15 PM

Yes, the stories were broadcast out of order. Regardless, the episodes, even in the proper order, tend more towards self-contained storytelling than not. Would it have become more serialized had it been around longer? Probably, as that’s the way Joss’s shows tend to evolve, but Fox canceled it after 13.

By: Bilbut

09.15.2010 @ 3:45 PM

@tigerstripes : about your gripe #2… And forbid the whole 14 articles to anyone who has never watched the show? What an open mind ! I think one of the purposes of this series of articles was to introduce Firefly to new people, so your remark is somewhat inappropriate.

By: Brandon

07.07.2010 @ 7:25 PM

I was going to stop watching now – just wasn’t doing it for me – but Ms. Hendricks? Guess I’m back for at least one more…

By: Robert

07.07.2010 @ 10:32 PM

Don’t stop there, she’s in two episodes of Firefly. She reprises her “Our Mrs. Reynolds” role in the equally entertaining “Trash.”

Some might argue that “Trash” is even more awesome since Christina Hendricks’ role is more prominent in that episode.

By: Jacob

07.08.2010 @ 10:47 PM

I also started re-watching the whole series and it’s really killing me not to talk about next week’s.

This wasn’t my favorite episode, but it does have some wonderful, wonderful lines. I think as quoteable as Buffy and Angel could be, Whedon and Co. were just firing on all cylinders when it came to scripting Firefly. Just so many quoteable moments.

I was always a fan of the poison berries scene. I could totally see my sister and I do that. (Or, rather, me doing it to my sister.)

By: Ray

06.10.2011 @ 6:50 PM

I’m watching these for the first time via Netflix, at my own speed….

In any case, when Simon and River are first abducted, it struck me that they had stumbled into a pretty good situation. It would be the perfect place to hide from the Alliance and still have a somewhat normal life. Much better than stuck on a ship with the same nine people always just one step ahead of the Alliance. Simon just needed to mentally overcome the fact he had been kidnapped into it.